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1. You're actually mistaken on the mention of enrollment management, Richard. That has, in fact, been the main bone of contention in the GU campus plan process both during this go-round and previous ones: how many students can Georgetown enroll, and of what kind. In the last round of litigation, a court rejected Georgetown's claim that the BZA had no authority to impose an enrollment cap (under the rather specious reasoning that because GU had volunteered to agree to a cap, it was ok. Volunteering something is not the same as some external authority being able to impose it. But I digress).

2. I want to come back to your comment that "my personal experience is that plans are improved with increased quality public engagement."

Where is this quality public engagement supposed to be coming from? All of the feedback from neighbors regarding the campus plan has been about a couple of items that they perceive as negative externalities. Student behavior is the big one, along with the usual DC bugaboos - as one of the ANCs testifying put it at the meeting tonight: "our largest concerns are parking and traffic congestion."

This really isn't in any way surprising. As I said earlier, the University has been a separate and discrete entity since before the West Village was settled, so it is only natural that the campus is seen is an autonomous, separate thing. The fact that it has only a couple of access points from the surrounding neighborhood only reinforces this.

As a result, though, most of those who live in the surrounding area don't particularly care about what goes on inside the campus, so long as it doesn't spill out into their backyard. If you read through all of the scathing letters and submissions by the CAG, BCA, ANC2E, etc., none of them offer recommendations as to how the University could develop better. Why? Well, obviously, because the authors don't care. They don't spend time on campus. They have no interest in "safe routes to school" or bike-ped connectivity to campus. What they care about is realizing their vision for what their neighborhood should look and feel like. Students are not part of that vision, so their presence in the neighborhood is opposed. GUTS buses are not part of that vision, so their presence is opposed. Those who do not share this vision are also opposed, like our good man Jacques here, who is singled out in the CAG/BCA submission as being unworthy of having his opinion considered by the Zoning Commission because he is "Alum 2001 & 2007" (see page 23). Just like the heads of Duke Ellington and Cesar Chavez schools, listed immediately before Jacques, who should be ignored because those schools are "supported by GU."

There's not really much room for collaborative planning here, Richard, sorry. Not with the commanders of the Pitchfork Brigade, anyway, and that is who has so thoroughly poisoned the process.

In other contexts, the surrounding residents may be invested in the development of the university as a major employment center or a point of civic pride or any number of other things. This might make them good partners in planning. But this is decidedly not the case in Georgetown - the residents are almost exclusively people of significant means who have no interest in the jobs GU brings, and aside from those (like Jacques) who have institutional ties, few feel the sort of loyalty "townies" might toward a prominent University. Maybe if the Hoyas played bigtime football...

by Dizzy on Nov 17, 2011 11:42 pm • link • report